All LAN Feeds

Ofcom to auction off bandwidth for WIMAX?

tech.co.uk staff — 1198022400

UK media regulator Ofcom has announced that it will be releasing more bandwidth via open auction in the summer of 2008. The sale will be held on a technology and service neutral basis, and the winning bidder will also be able to sell on their licence after the auction has closed.

The spectrum could be used for "a range of new wireless services including WiMAX," according to Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards.

Ideal for advanced wireless services

The spectrum that is to be sold falls between 2010-2025 MHz and 2500-2690 MHz bands, and is collectively known as 2.6 GHz. Able to provide high-speed, high-capacity mobile data connections, 2.6GHz is especially suited to mobile broadband, WiMAX and other advanced wireless services. In 2000, it was earmarked for the future development of these services.

The auction is scheduled to take place next summer. Ofcom is now overseeing a consultation process during which interested parties can make their representations, and rules for the auction can be drawn up.

Commenting on the forthcoming auction Richards said: "This process will see the UK's largest single release of spectrum suitable for a range of new wireless services including WiMAX. This is part of Ofcom's process of releasing a significant amount of spectrum to the market for the benefit of citizens and consumers."

So what's up with 802.11n?

Magazine Team — 1197936000

If 802.11n-based Wi-Fi products are working well today, what exactly are we waiting for in the final release of the 802.11n specification? Our sister magazine PC Plus met Christopher Dobrec, senior director World Wide Strategy & Business Development for Linksys, to get some answers.

What can we expect from the final approved N spec?

The transition [from 802.11g to 802.11n] is in its early stages, although we're pretty close to finishing the draft. There are a lot of good innovations and fixes that are going on, almost on a monthly basis, so with every new release of drivers and every secondary release of chipsets, we're seeing better performances.

Where N gets an advantage is with multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technologies and the advanced antennae, which allow you to get multiple streams simultaneously to increase the bandwidth. The other advantage is that when we get final implementations of the product, you will see that throughput at the far ranges [up to 100m]. So we're getting a lot of good enhancements and performance from the drivers.

And it does require that you have N at both sides of the equation. We're almost at the point now where the laptop guys, for example, are going to be comfortable enough deploying the technology in laptops, in which case you're going to see the benefits start to come to fruition. We're pretty confident our final draft for 802.11n will live up to its goal.

Can wireless networking really be made 'user-friendly'?

The market is evolving. If you look at who we were selling to a few years ago, for example, it was classic early adopters. And those folks, by definition, are technically savvy; they are reasonably self-sufficient. They're certainly not intimidated by retail, or about making a technology choice and taking it home and implementing it.

The mass market has the same application requirements; they just may not have the same technical capabilities. So we need to mask that complexity. We're investing heavily in ease-of-use and easy-install characteristics or attributes and the products have become the very thing you described.

How much is WiMAX a factor in the Wi-Fi world ?

WiMAX is another alternative for getting wireless into the home. It remains to be seen what kind of penetration these wireless networks will deliver. It's clear that it gives consumers another choice in terms of a broadband connection into the home.

The other side of the equation is clearly that wired connections can offer more general bandwidth. More often than not more bandwidth on those last-mile connections help to solve the problem. And then if you can add quality-of-service characteristics onto some of those links, it just makes the experience better.

This is why folks like Verizon are deploying fibre with FiOS, for example, or some of the folks in Europe are deploying fibre optic connections in Italy and the Nordics.

Can 802.11n really cope with digital media streaming in the home ?

From a networking perspective, we predict that the whole [home] network will be a hybrid of both wired and wireless technology in the future.

When you look at the applications that will be run inside the home there are going to be those that are conducive to running over air and there are going to be others that are better served running over physical media, just by virtue of the location... consumer electronics, for example.

So we actually think that the future's networks will be hybrid in nature. You can't only use 802.11n capabilities for wireless, but also for the alternative 'no-new-wires' technology, like multimedia over Coax, which is basically running high bandwidth networking over your powerline network at home.

Even in new constructions or retrofits, where it's pragmatic, we're going to begin to see networks and backbones in people's homes too.

Do you think wireless will ever completely replace wired connections?

As a pragmatist, I really don't believe that it will. Again, that's why we at Linksys firmly believe that networks will be hybrids in the future.

Not so long ago everybody thought that wireless technology was going to revolutionise connectivity in enterprise. But if you take a careful look at the development of enterprise networks over the course of the last 20 years, you'll see that, actually, not as much has changed as it was once thought would.

There is still a great deal of physical connectivity being used in business locations. And I think that holds true in individual households as well. And as far as we're concerned, as long as consumers have flexibility and solutions that meet all of their lifestyle needs, we are willing to build the required technology.

Would you buy a server for your music?

tech.co.uk staff — 1197590400

Escient is making its range of Fireball digital music servers available to the UK general public. Escient is already a big player in the United States but has, until now, remained the preserve of custom install specialists in the UK.

There are two models in the range: the 160GB S-E160i (£800) and the 500GB S-E500i (£1,200). Both models are able to play, rip and record CDs, copy files between PC and Mac computers, and can also stream internet radio.

Glitch-free

Just like a PC or Mac, the Fireball server uses Gracenote CDDB to identify each CD. Cover art for each stored CD is provided by AMG.

CD data can be stored in either lossless FLAC, or in a choice of MP3 bit-rates from 320 to 128kbs. Ripping CDs at 192kbs, the S-E1500i has enough capacity to store 5,622 hours of music, so space is unlikely to be a problem. Each server is controlled via a user interface on your TV or dedicated display, and Escient claims this system is both easy to use and glitch-free.

Also launching in the UK is the all-new Fireball FP-1 iPod dock for a rather hefty £400. This allows full wireless control over a docked iPod through the Fireball interface. It's also possible to use it to transfer material stored on a docked iPod onto the master Fireball server and the company says this includes songs purchased at the iTunes store.

What's next for Apple?

Rob Mead — 1197504000

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs walks on stage at Macworld Expo on Tuesday 15th January, he's going to have the weight of expectation bearing heavily down on his shoulders.

2007 was undoubtedly a monster year for Apple - it sold record numbers of Macs, millions more iPods and launched a brand new version of its Mac OS X operating system with Leopard. And then, of course, there was the iPhone - now widely seen as the gadget of the year, thanks to its unique multi-touch interface and combination of killer features. Anyone would be hard pressed to top that little lot, let alone a company that prizes itself on innovation. So what's next? We gaze into a crystal ball and try to make a few predictions

iPhone

There's no way that Jobs can appear at Macworld and not announce a new iPhone. An analyst at Goldman Sachs has suggested to investors that a new model is in the final design phase, says Apple Insider. It's expected to have a different design from the current iPhone and may include 3G integration.

Other rumours have pointed to a launch as early as May, which would make sense for the US, where the current iPhone will have been on sale for almost a year. We may wait longer for the European version - possibly as late as October or November next year.

We could also see a second iPhone launch around then, according to Goldman Sachs. That would make sense - Apple needs to keep the iPhone's momentum going if it's to hit its target of 10 million sales by the end of 2008.

If it's at all serious about staying in the mobile phone game, it'll also need to offer a more diverse range of models and at lower prices - just as it has done with the iPod.

Apple's obviously not in the game of "piling 'em high and selling 'em cheap", but it often demotes its flagship models to mid-range or entry-level status. That would enable it to put a new flagship iPhone with larger capacity (32GB), 3G and better Bluetooth integration at the top, a 16GB 3G iPhone in the middle; and the current 8GB 2.5G iPhone at entry level.

One of Macworld's highlights will undoubtedly be the official unveiling of the iPhone Software Developers Kit, alongside which we'll see a slew of announcements from partner developers who have already been working on iPhone apps. 'And they're shipping today," Jobs will undoubtedly say to much whooping from the Mac faithful. Gaming is also likely to arrive on the iPhone with this update - Apple is already said to be working very closely with Electronic Arts to bring its titles to the iPhone.

iPod

While Jobs may crow about the latest sales figures for the iPod at Macworld (particularly for the iPod touch) the current range of iPods is too new to get a revamp now. Tradition dictates that we'll have to wait until September to see new models, although that would be a shame - the iPod classic needs to seriously up its game if its to compete against Microsoft's fast rising Zune. Even the iPod touch needs a boost - 16GB of flash memory is already starting to look poor on a device that specialises in video.

MacBook / MacBook Pro

Apple last revamped its MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops in July - ahead of the back to school buying frenzy in the US. That and the arrival of new 45-nanometre Penryn chips from Intel suggests that both will at least get a speed boost in January. However have also been some other tantalising suggestions.

The first of these is that Apple will launch a new ultra-thin sub-notebook with a solid-state flash memory drive, chiefly as a replacement for the late, lamented 12-inch PowerBook. Apple is already said to have placed orders for 13.3-inch LED displays - although these could be just being used to replace the displays in existing MacBooks.

Some are suggesting that Apple will even dispense with DVD drive in the new models, much as it did with the floppy in the original 1998 iMac. We certainly wouldn't put it past Jobs to do this - he was pretty dismissive of DVD burning at the launch of iLife '08 creativity suite last August, where he showcased a new version of iMovie that is much more tailored to YouTube and other movie uploading sites.

Next: iTablet, Apple TV and more

However we're not convinced that Apple will make this move yet. If anything it's more likely to include Blu-ray burners in its laptop drives and elsewhere - firstly it's a key member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, but is one of the few remaining members not to have supported its backing with a product; secondly Steve Jobs also sits on the board at Disney, and Disney is an enthusiastic supporter of Blu-ray; thirdly, including a Blu-ray drive would enable Apple to meet the needs of both its power users (who are likely to want Blu-ray burning for backups, as well as video mastering), while also including backwards compatibility with DVD and CD.

The latest rumours also suggest that Apple has now gone cold on the idea of solid-state notebook. At least for the time-being.

iTablet

Mac sites across the web are rife with speculation that Apple may launch a web tablet using multi-touch technology at Macworld. This is usually in train with the solid-state notebook idea, often suggesting that the two are in fact one. We remain unconvinced.

Apple has long been a critic of Microsoft's Tablet PC platform, and Tablet PCs are specialist products that appeal to specialist work-oriented audiences - think doctors, delivery drivers. That doesn't fit with Apple's own focus on consumer audiences - it now sees itself like Sony as a maker of consumer electronics by and large.

Some sceptics point out that multi-touch could actually be better used as part of a revamp for Apple's ageing Cinema Displays. Pro users could detach the display screen and use it as a pen-less graphics tablet (especially since Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard also supports multiple displays) or you could use it to access your Mac desktop remotely - a bit like Microsoft's aborted Mira home tablet platform. We still don't think that's a compelling enough use for multi-touch and again it will appeal to a strictly limited audience.

The other alternative is a home tablet that's a tad bigger than an iPhone, and aimed at couch-potato web surfers. This has some appeal - after all Nokia is attempting the same thing with its N800 platform. But why buy an iTablet when you can have a much more versatile MacBook instead? We'll take that as a no.

Mac Pro

Aside from a speed bump, we're not expecting any major changes to the Mac Pro - it's a solid, speedy workhorse for graphics and movie pros as well as high-end Mac gamers (yes there are a few!). The current case design, though - flexible as it is - dates back to June 2006, which suggests makeover at least. However Apple normally reserves Mac Pro announcements for its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC).

Apple iMac

We're not expecting any major changes here either. Like the MacBook and MacBook Pro, the iMac will probably adopt the new 45nm Intel Penryn chips - especially since the iMac is essentially a laptop on leg(s). The current design was only introduced in August 2006, so won't be due for a revamp until April at the earliest.

Apple TV

It's hard to believe that it's nearly a year since Apple properly introduced the Apple TV. If you believe Forrester Research it has been an unmitigated disaster, over-shadowed by the iPhone, and possibly the worst-selling piece of Apple hardware since the G4 Cube and Flower Power iMac.

Several Mac sites are pointing to Macworld as the place to revive the Apple TV's fortunes, and we also believe that will be the case. First Jobs may announce several new deals with Hollywood movies studios, including 20th Century Fox, and Apple may even offe movie rentals - there are already hints in iTunes if you're prepared to dig around in code. That would certainly make sense in the UK where the current crop of movies and TV shows on offer on iTunes are both a) lamentable and b) ridiculously over-priced.

If Apple wants the Apple TV to be the 'DVD player for the 21st century' it first claimed, it also needs to open the device up to more video codecs - it currently only supports H.264 and MPEG-4. It's also about time that Apple turned it into a proper home entertainment device and included a PAL TV tuner, PVR functionality and a built-in Blu-ray drive.

Apple also needs to support a wider range of connectivity options - you're currently stuck with a choice of HDMI or component video - and only 720-lines of high-def resolution.

Of course bundling all these options will add significantly to the current £269 price tag the top model sells for now - but when did that ever both Apple or its customers? £499 would seem a sensible price for all that functionality. How about it Steve?

What would you like to see Apple introduce at Macworld? Please let us know.

Microsoft gives Xbox 360 gamers more treats

James Rivington — 1197331200

Microsoft today has launched the UK version of its Video Marketplace. Using the service, Xbox Live subscribers will be able to download movies in SD and also HD onto their console's hard drive.

The service was announced a few weeks ago, but it only went live today. And to celebrate, Microsoft has confirmed the release of a new batch of Warner Bros movies on the service for Christmas.

Yet more movies

Microsoft has built a cosy relationship with Warner Bros and Europacorp in Europe to add films like 300, Zodiac, Harry Potter and The Good German. Xbox 360 owners can also expect to 'download to rent' additional Warner Bros films such as Batman Forever, Batman Returns, A nalyze That, before the end of the year.

Cost per download for a catalogue film is from as little as 250 Microsoft Points (around £2) for standard-definition movies and from 380 Microsoft Points (around £3.20) for high-definition ones.

"We are firmly committed to providing the best high definition entertainment experiences for our consumers. We feel great about the enthusiasm created last week around HD movies in the Xbox LIVE community," said Robin Truchy, director of Xbox Live in Europe.

"The good news is that the movie industry seems excited as well about this launch: we look forward to additional partners and content coming in 2008, alongside Warner Bros and Europacorp."

Cheap HD for limited time

Microsoft and Warner Bros are also offering eligible Xbox gamers a special Christmas treat. From 00.01a.m. on Friday 28 December until 11.59 pm the same day (24 hours only), you will be able to download "a mystery title" in HD for 99p in the UK. Stay tuned for more information on this soon.

Xbox 360 gamers in the UK can now access Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store with both an Xbox Live Silver or Gold membership and a broadband connection.

While movie downloads are currently a niche business venture for most studios and media companies, many analysts think it'll be big business in the future.

"As Hollywood turns its attention towards selling digital copies of its blockbuster movies, the delivery of movie content over the open internet has become a key battleground for a broad range of service providers," says Arash Amel, a senior analyst at Screen Digest.

VOD key for future

Screen Digest predicts that the total European movie download market will be worth £249m by 2012, up from £12m in 2007. "The Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store, as the first multi-territory hardware-based online movie delivery service in Europe, is expected to be a European market leader for movie downloads," he said.

"Consumers in both the US and Europe have already made it abundantly clear that they are reluctant to watch two-hour long films on their PC, instead preferring to view them on personal devices or most preferably devices that can provide a link to their large-screen living room TVs and home entertainment systems."

Movies that'll be available on December 11:

The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix reloaded

Ocean's Eleven

The Perfect Storm

Swordfish

Three Kings

Training Day

The Fugitive

Risky Business

Space Cowboys

Eyes Wide Shut

Analyze This

Demolition Man

Eraser

Executive Decision

Lethal Weapon 3 & 4

Mars Attacks!

Clash of the Titans

Superman 3

Dead Calm

Is the Apple TV about to die?

Anna Lagerkvist — 1197331200

The Apple TV digital media receiver has never been one of Apple's great success stories since its release in January. Now, sales figures from a leading analyst show that it is selling even worse than first thought. So will Apple kill it off?

In May, Forrester Research forecast that one million Apple TV units would be sold by the end of 2007. Apparently this target figure is a long way off, Macworld reports.

It comes as no surprise. Right from the start questions have been asked about the limitations of Apple TV with regard to functionality, content and its hardware.

"In addition to the 400,000 Apple TV units we estimate Apple has sold thus far, the company will be lucky to sell another 400,000 in the year-end holiday rush, short of our one million estimate," Forrester analyst James McQuivey told Macworld.

Questionable results

One of the key reasons for the Apple TV's apparent lack of success has been a lack of decent video content on the iTunes Store. This is particularly true of the UK store, which is limited to pricey TV shows and short Pixar film movies.

However critics of Forrester's own research point out that its US-centric survey also includes responses from Canada where movies and TV programmes aren't even available in iTunes. This distorts the results.

Mac site Roughly Drafted has questioned Forrester's analysis. This is because Forrester claimed in January that iTunes sales were already in decline, even though other analysts were finding the opposite. Apple was forced to issue a rare statement dismissing claims made as a result of Forrester's research.

Apple TV is also less than 12 months in to an 18-month 'experiment' to see how well or badly it does. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has even called it a hobby. This suggests that Apple is rapidly learning lessons about what works and what doesn't and will bounce back with a revamped device in early 2008.

We'd certainly like to see it include a UK-centric TV tuner, DVD drive and PVR, Dolby Digital / DTS surround sound support and more connectivity options so you can hook it up to displays other than a flat panel TV.

We could see the results as early as Macworld Expo.

Xbox 360 vs PS3: media hub wars

James Rivington — 1196812800

There was a time when a games console would only allow you to play games on your TV; having two people playing with a split screen and multiple control pads was about as adventurous as it got. But these days, everything has changed.

With the last generation, the games console was suddenly also a DVD player. And today, the Sony PS3, the Xbox 360 and even the Nintendo Wii come bristling with all sorts of media-based features that no one even dreamt of ten years ago.

Xbox 360 update

After yesterday's Dashboard firmware update, the Xbox 360 can now claim to be the most accomplished media hub the world has ever seen. Not only can it deliver fantastic games with sparkling HD graphics, but it also lets you rent movies ( from 11 December in the UK), download demos, chat to your Live Messenger friends, stream music and video from a PC - the list goes on and on.

But while all these extra features are nice to have, some people might say that they'd rather just have the games console without the shiny extras, for a cheaper price.

And that's why it's so important for Sony and Microsoft to make their consoles as versatile as possible. Versatility is absolutely the key. This is the reason why the addition of DivX support and a new video download store are so important for the Xbox 360.

What's the point in a console being able to stream videos from your PC if it doesn't support the majority of file formats? The PS3 is a cracking media hub, but the only format it can play at the moment is MP4 - a format no one really uses. This makes the media hub part of the PS3 redundant for many gamers.

DivX the key

The Xbox 360 was in almost the same boat until yesterday. But now that's all changed. DivX is the most used video format in the world. And now that the Xbox 360 supports it, the console has suddenly become incredibly useful for a lot of people.

Likewise, instead of popping out to the video store to rent a movie, you'll soon be able to just download them to your Xbox. Assuming, of course, that your internet connection can handle it and your console has a hard drive.

So what does Sony have to do to catch up? For a start, the addition of DivX support is a must. It should have been done when the console first launched, but the good news is that a forthcoming firmware update is expected to make the PS3 DivX-compatible.

When that happens, suddenly the PS3 will also become an incredibly useful tool. Already in the PS3's favour is its near-silent operation. It's remarkably quiet even when you're playing HD games, whereas the Xbox 360's giant cooling fans can hum louder than an angry swarm of bees.

But the real trump card up Sony's sleeve could well be the PlayTV. The digital TV tuner peripheral that will turn the PS3 into a Freeview receiver and hard disc recorder. It's launching with twin HD digital tuners at the beginning of 2008.

This could swing the media hub crown back over to the PS3. And then it'll be up to Microsoft to come up with something new. With both companies trying to outdo each other with bigger and better features, the real winner is you.

Windows Home Server emerges with a whimper

Dan Grabham — 1196726400

Microsoft has finally announced its Windows Home Server OS here in the UK. It's been nearly a year in coming, too, following on from a demo we first saw at this year's CES way back in January.

"The Home Server product is specifically for the consumer market. This is really, I guess, the birth of a new product category," said Mike Haigh, Windows product manager in the UK. He was speaking at a briefing attended by Tech.co.uk. "Microsoft is working with people like HP to make sure the platform is broadly adopted."

Opinion: Windows Home Server: Nice idea, bad price

HP is on the market with two versions of its MediaSmart server - the £400 500GB EX470 and the £500 1TB EX475. Running on a 1.8GHz AMD Sempron processor, the box has four drive bays and four USB 2.0 ports for the connection of external storage.

Windows Home Server has a slightly different sell than other Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices in that it's not pitched primarily as a backup device. Instead, Microsoft wants you to use Windows Home Server as the primary location to store your files. That way you can access documents remotely using remote access features as well as get to them from any of your PCs (or a Mac for that matter).

Embedded iTunes Server

The function on offer is excellent, but it's difficult to know whether people will buy it, especially given its premium price. Microsoft is pitching the Home Server at an enthusiast audience even though it admits that the box is designed to keep things simple. "The idea is that this becomes the hub and you don't need to have content on your Xbox or PC," adds Haigh.

The MediaSmart has an embedded iTunes server that seems to be being somewhat underplayed, although spokespeople denied this at the briefing we attended. It isn't in the press release and it wasn't mentioned in the meeting until we talked about it.

When asked for power consumption figures we were given some almost straight away, ranging from 52W in idle mode for a single drive unit (60W full load) to 76W in idle mode for a unit with four drives (99W full load). Compare that to an Xbox 360 that clocks in at just over 150W when it is on but idle.

It will work with Time Machine on a Mac as it operates just like a network drive. And as for the remote functionality, we've seen a comprehensive demo of it and it seems extremely simple to use.

Orange to offer 10,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots

Anna Lagerkvist — 1195603200

Orange has teamed up with wireless access firm The Cloud to provide its customers free Wi-Fi across the UK.

The Cloud has some 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country. Alongside Orange's own wireless hotspots, provided by firms such as BT Openzone, France Telecom, and WeRoam, the deal with The Cloud means that Orange customers now have access to around 10,000 hotspots in the UK.

Wi-Fi everywhere

"Our business customers want easy-to-use, secure communication. They are less worried about who owns the infrastructure and naturally more interested in a service that works effectively. Partnering with The Cloud enables us to extend our high quality service to thousands more locations in an instant," said Anthony Keyworth, director of products at Orange business services.

"We have numerous Wi-Fi partners complementing a range of other wireless technologies, but no matter which network an Orange customer is using, the user interface and billing remains consistent," Keyworth added.

Bundled Wi-Fi minutes

The deal will bring 250 free Wi-Fi minutes per month to those who use Orange's Business Everywhere mobile data cards. These offer connectivity through a variety of technologies including Wi-Fi, HSDPA, 3G, EDGE and GPRS. The free Wi-Fi minutes will be bundled into their existing monthly deal, with any exceeding minutes being charged at 8p.

Earlier this year. The Cloud switched on Europe's largest Wi-Fi network across the entire of the City of London, giving the 350,000 people who work in and visit the area high speed wireless broadband access across the City. Orange's rival O2 recently teamed up with The Cloud to offer free Wi-Fi for Apple iPhone users.

"We're delighted that Orange will now be able to offer Wi-Fi connectivity through The Cloud's unparalleled UK footprint, which includes train stations, hotels, airports and major sporting venues," said Owen Geddes, The Cloud's director of business development.

New ShowCenter streams HD DivX files

James Rivington — 1195430400

Pinnacle has revealed its brand new ShowCenter 250HD.

A follow-up to the ShowCenter 200, the 250HD is designed to wirelessly stream your videos and music from a PC or a Mac onto your TV - the digital home in action. The best thing, though, is that it can handle high definition content.

The ShowCenter 250HD supports a comprehensive list of video formats too. DivX is the one most people will be hoping for, and good news, the ShowCenter 250HD supports it. As well as DivX, the ShowCenter 250HD can juggle Windows Media Video 9, WMV-DRM, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVI and XviD files.

Plus, on the HD front, it can stream Windows Media Video 9, DivX HD and MPEG-4 file formats with resolutions of up to 1080i. Tthat's not full HD, but it's good enough to look gorgeous on your HD TV. And the wide range of formats will be enough to keep the majority of people very happy indeed.

Stream DivX wirelessly

Like D-Link's awesome DivX Connected device, which launched last month, the ShowCenter 250HD is also a plug-and-play unit which works straight out of the box. Compatible with most common UPnP AV media server applications, it can be used with Windows Vista and XP or Mac OS X, and in most cases, there's no additional software to install.

"The growth in the home theatre and HDTV markets has created the need for a simple, cost-effective solution for linking PC-based digital media to a home entertainment system," said Tanguy Leborgne, Pinnacle Systems' Vice President of worldwide marketing.

"PC users and home entertainment enthusiasts want to be able to have their friends and family join them in viewing their digital media collections on their large-screen home entertainment system, rather than in front of their PC. With Pinnacle ShowCenter 250HD, they can do that and more."

HD-compatible, but no HDMI

There's no HDMI output on the ShowCenter 250HD though, so your best bet when handling HD content it to connect it to your TV using the analogue component port. It also comes with SCART and S-video connections.

And the price? A modest £129.99 when it launches in January. These DivX streamers look likely to be very popular in 2008. Although if you have a PlayStation 3 console, you'll soon be able to stream DivX using your console without the need for any other hardware. And it's rumoured that the Xbox 360 will also be soon getting similar features.